Gun store found liable for negligence in shooting, ordered to pay cops more than $5 million

Jurors found a West Milwaukee gun store liable for negligence Tuesday, and ordered it to pay nearly $6 million to two officers shot on duty.

Badger Guns, previously known as Badger Outdoors, has at times been the top seller of firearms used in crimes in the United States, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says; in 2005, it moved 537 guns recovered from crime scenes, NBC News reports. Milwaukee police officers Bryan Norberg and Graham Kunisch were both shot in the face in 2009, and claimed in their suit that the store should have known the gun used in their shooting was sold in a straw purchase, meaning the gun was purchased on behalf of someone not legally permitted to own firearms themselves. The suit also says that between 2007 and 2009, six Milwaukee police officers were injured in shootings involving guns sold at Badger Guns or Badger Outdoors.

Kunisch, who was shot multiple times, lost an eye, and sustained a brain injury, said he had to retire because of the incident. Jurors ordered Badger Guns to pay Kunisch $3.6 million and Norberg $1.5 million, in addition to $730,000 in punitive damages.

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